and I always look forward to an opportunity to speak

to some of our top businesses across the country

who are hiring people,

investing in America, making the economy run.

And many of you I've had a chance to interact with before.

As you know, oftentimes when I do something like this,

I want to spend more time answering questions

and having a conversation than giving any formal remarks.

Let me just provide a little bit of an introduction.

Obviously, over the last couple of months,

most of the oxygen in this town

has been consumed with two things --

one, the government shutdown and the possibility of default

that was ultimately resolved;

and the second has been the rollout

of the Affordable Care Act

and the fact that my website is not working

the way it's supposed to.

And it's entirely legitimate

that those have been issues of great concern.

The impact of the shutdown

and the threat of default I think not only did

some significant damage to the economy

at a time when we didn't need self-inflicted wounds,

but it also spoke to some of the larger problems we've seen here

in Washington, and the sense of dysfunction and the seeming

incapacity of both parties in Congress to work together

to advance an agenda that's going to help us grow.

With respect to the Affordable Care Act,

I think people are legitimately concerned because we have

a major problem with health care in this country --

41 million people without health insurance,

a lot of people underinsured.

And once again, how we fix a health care system

that's been broken for too many people for too long I think

ends up speaking to how much confidence we have in government

and whether we still have the capacity, collectively,

to bring about changes that are going to be good

for our economy, good for our businesses,

good for the American people.

I do want to say, though, that beyond the headlines,

we have made real progress in the economy,

and sometimes that hasn't gotten enough attention.

Some of the tough decisions that we made early on

have paid off -- decisions that helped us

not only recover from a crisis,

but begin to lay a stronger foundation for future growth.

We refocused on manufacturing exports, and today,

our businesses sell more goods and services made in America

than ever before around the world.

After a decade of shedding jobs, our manufacturing sector

has now added about half a million new jobs,

and it's led by an American auto industry

that has come roaring back after decades of decline.

We decided to reverse our dependence on foreign oil,

and today, we generate

more renewable energy than ever before

and more natural gas than anybody in the world.

And for the first time in nearly 20 years,

America now produces more of our own oil than we buy

from other countries.

When I took office, we invested a fraction

of what other countries did in wireless infrastructure,

and today, it's up nearly 50 percent,

helping companies unleash jobs,

innovation and a booming app economy that's created

more than 500,000 jobs.

When I took office, only 5 percent

of the world's smartphones ran on American operating systems.

Today, more than 80 percent do.

And it's not just in the high-tech economy

that we're seeing progress.

For example, American farmers are on pace to have one of their

best years in decades, and they have consistently been able to

export more, make more profits and help restore rural economies

than when we came into office.

And, yes, we decided to take on a broken health care system.

And even though the rollout of the new health care marketplace

has been rough, to say the least,

about half a million Americans are now poised to gain

health care coverage beginning January 1st.

That's after only a month of sign-up.

We also have seen health care costs growing

at the slowest rate in 50 years.

Employer-based health costs are growing at about one-third

of the rate of a decade ago, and that has an impact

on your bottom line.

And after years of trillion-dollar deficits,

we reined in spending, wound down two wars,

and began to change a tax code that I believe was too skewed

towards the wealthiest among us at the expense

of the middle class.

And since I took office,

we have now cut our deficits by more than half.

Add it all up, and businesses like yours have created

7.8 million new jobs over the past 44 months.

We've gone farther and recovered faster

than most other advanced nations.

And so in a lot of ways,

America is poised for a breakout.

We are in a good position to compete

around the world in the 21st century.

The question is, are we going to realize that potential?

And that means that we've still got some more work to do.

Our stock markets and corporate profits are soaring,

but we've got to make sure that this remains a country

where everyone who works hard can get ahead.

And that means we've still got

to address long-term unemployment.

We still have to address stagnant wages

and stagnant incomes.

And frankly, we've got to stop governing by crisis

here in this town.

Because if it weren't for Washington's dysfunction,

I think all of us agree we'd be a lot further along.

The shutdown and the threat of default harmed our jobs market,

they cost our economy about $5 billion,

and economists predict it will slow

our GDP growth this quarter --

and it didn't need to happen.

It was self-inflicted.

We should not be injuring ourselves every few months.

We should be investing in ourselves.

And in a sensible world, that starts with a budget

that cuts what we don't need, closes wasteful loopholes,

and helps us afford to invest in the things

that we know will help businesses like yours

and the economy as a whole --

education, infrastructure, basic research and development.

We would have a grand bargain for middle-class jobs that

combines tax reform with a financing mechanism

that lets us create jobs,

rebuilding infrastructure that your businesses depend on,

but we haven't gotten as much take-up from the other side

as we'd like to see so far.

We have the opportunity for bipartisan authority

to negotiate the best trade deals possible so businesses

and workers can take advantage of new markets

that are opening up around the world.

We haven't seen the kind of take-up from the other side

that we'd like to see so far.

We've got the opportunity to fix a broken immigration system

that strengthens our economy and our national security.

The good news here is the Senate has already passed a bipartisan

bill that economists say would grow our economy

by $1.4 trillion and shrink our deficits by nearly a trillion

over the next two decades.

You wouldn't turn down a deal that good,

and Congress shouldn't either.

So I'm hoping that Speaker Boehner

and the House of Representatives

can still work with us to get that done.

And we need to be going all out to prepare our kids

and our workers for the demands of a 21st-century economy.

I've proposed giving every child an early start at success

by making high-quality preschool available

to every four-year-old in America.

We know that you get more bang for the buck when it comes

to early childhood education than just about anything else,

and you've got great examples around the country,

oftentimes in red states, that are doing just that.

We need to make that same investment.

We're working to bring down the costs of a college degree

so more young people can get a higher education.

And one thing that I'm very excited about --

and this has been a good example

of a public-private partnership --

is the idea of redesigning our high schools

to make sure that more young people get hands-on training

and develop the skills that they need,

particularly in math, science and engineering,

that businesses are looking for.

And in fact, today we're announcing

a competitive grant program

that will encourage more high schools

to partner with colleges and local businesses

to better prepare our kids for college or a career.

And in December, I'll be bringing together

college presidents and other leaders to figure out ways

to help more low-income students attend

and to succeed in college.

So just to sum up, my basic message is this:

We know what the challenges are.

We know what the solutions are.

Some of them are tough, but what's holding us back is not

a lack of good policy ideas or even what used to be considered

good bipartisan policy ideas.

We just have to break through the stubborn cycle

of crisis politics and start working together.

More obstruction, more brinkmanship won't help anybody.

It doesn't help folks politically.

My understanding is nobody in this town is doing particularly

well at the moment when it comes to the opinions

of the American people,

but it certainly doesn't help anybody economically.

On many of the issues, I think you and I would agree,

and I want you to know that I'm rooting for your success,

and I look forward to making sure that we are able

in the remaining three years that I'm President

to work together to not only improve the business climate,

but also improve the prospects for Americans

all across the country who have been treading water,

feel like they're losing ground, are anxious about the future and

their children's futures, but I think are still hopeful

and still possess that fundamental American optimism.

If they see leadership working across the board on their

behalf, then I'm confident that we can make enormous progress.

So with that, why don't we get Jerry up here

and I'll start answering his questions.

I hope he adds some input.

[laughter]

If he starts asking me about what happened

to the Kansas City Chiefs,

I'm not sure I'll have a good answer for that one.

[applause]

Gerald Selb: Well, thank you, Mr. President.

Let me start by thanking you officially for joining us today.

I think you probably see a lot of familiar faces out there,

most friendly, most of them.

And I would also note

that you're getting here a little late.

Congressman Paul Ryan is coming later.

He is going to get here a little early.

So if you guys overlap a little bit,

maybe we can just get some problems solved right here.

What do you think?

The President: Let's do it.

[laughter]

Let's do it.

Gerald Selb: It's your chance.

We have talked amongst ourselves

or tried to sort of take the sense of the room.

So I'm going to try to reflect some of the conversations that

have been going on here in the questions I'm going to ask you.

You'll not be stunned

that I'm going to ask you about health care first.

You indicated there and you've indicated publicly quite clearly

that the rollout has been difficult.

What do you think you've learned from this experience